When Little Princes Grow Up
by CitrusCactus
Summary: A retelling of "The Promise of the Rose" through the lens of Saint-Exupery. Dub names, vague descriptions of death, and unrequited Fiore x Darien if you want to see it. Chapter four and epilogue added: Fiore finds his friend and meets a snake, who helps him remember what is truly important.
1. Part One: The Fox

**When Little Princes Grow Up**

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><p><strong>Fandom: <strong>Sailor Moon**  
><strong>Genre:<strong> **General/Drama**  
><strong>Summary:<strong> **A retelling of "The Promise of the Rose" through the lens of Saint-Exupery.**  
><strong>Rating (all chapters):<strong>** PG**  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> **Dub names, vague descriptions of death, unrequited Fiore x Darien if you squint

_Author's Note: My brain seems to really enjoy taking aspects of books I've read recently and applying them to my favorite anime. In this case, "Le Petit Prince," by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, mixed with Sailor Moon. I hesitate to call this a crossover- I borrowed some of the novella's themes and tried to mimic its overall style, but most of the _"Prince"_ characters that appear only do so indirectly as allegory for certain Sailor Moon characters. Plotwise, this really just an adaptation of the Sailor Moon R movie (with a few extra scenes and a bit of artistic license thrown in), although I should state up front that I may be only marginally successful with the SM characterization because at the end of the day I'm most familiar with the dub universe (hence dub names)._

_However, I did choose to ignore the dub's decision to call the hospital an orphanage because really, what were they thinking?_

_Anyway, hope you enjoy!_

**Part One: The Fox**

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><p>Once, not so very long ago, a little prince in a transparent bubble arrived on Earth. This little prince had no home, and didn't even know what exactly he was a prince of. All he knew was that he had been wandering among the stars for as long as he could remember, and he was terribly lonely.<p>

He was found lying in the rain, just a few feet from where he had landed, by a boy with no parents. The boy soothed the prince's heart with gentle words, and took the prince to the hospital with him. In their sorrow, they found solace in each other, and soon became fast friends.

Every night, they would watch the sunset together, and the prince would tell the boy about all the stars he had seen on his travels, and the boy would tell the prince about life on Earth, all while helping the prince learn how to look and act more human. When no one was looking, they laughed at the foolish grown-ups who couldn't see the prince for what he really was, and they agreed that the most important things in life are those which are invisible to the eye.

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><p>"Your planet is so large," said the prince to the boy one day, as they were standing on the roof of the hospital looking down at the street below. "There are hundreds of thousands of people living in this city alone, and all of their faces blur together in my mind. And yet I have never seen another human just like you. How did you come to be unique among men, Darien?"<p>

The boy pondered this for a while. He always gave the prince's questions careful consideration.

"I think I seem unique to you," he said carefully, "because we understand each other."

"What do you mean?" asked the prince, burning with curiosity. He always had so many questions.

"I don't know," confessed the boy. "Before the doctors let me get out of bed very much, the nurses brought me lots and lots of books to read, and one of them had a chapter about taming animals- small ones, like rabbits and birds and squirrels. They can be very shy at first, and run away if you get too close, but if you leave little things for them to eat, and wait for them at the same time every day, then little by little they'll get used to you being there. When they're ready, they'll let you watch them eat, and won't mind if you start sitting closer and closer. Eventually, if you're patient, maybe they'll be the ones waiting for you!"

The prince listened raptly to the boy, for he loved to hear his friend talk.

"Reading all that made me think. To most people, each squirrel looks like every other squirrel. But if you took the time to tame one, I have to think you would learn to recognize that one squirrel in particular. He would become special. I'll bet there would come a point where you could pick your special squirrel out of a hundred if you had to, and I wonder if it would be the same for him, too. I hope so."

They were both silent for a time.

"Did you tame me?" the little prince asked, twisting his fingers together.

"I don't know if you can tame a person," said the boy. "Maybe. But you're my friend, Fiore. We're equals. If I tamed you, then I think you tamed me, too."

The boy smiled at the prince, and the prince smiled back, for he knew the underlying truth of their conversation. Once you tamed something, you became responsible for it forever. The prince cared for the boy; he would always watch out for him, make sure that nothing bad happened to him ever again. And the boy (thought the prince) cared for him in turn; Darien would always remember him, even if he couldn't remember anything else.

They belonged to each other, heart and soul.

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><p>The prince would have liked nothing more than to stay on Earth with his friend, but something in the Earth's air made it difficult for him to breathe. The prince was young, and afraid of dying, so he made plans once again to seek his fortune among the stars. The boy was very sad, but understanding, and on the day the prince was to leave, the boy gave him a flower unlike any the prince had ever seen.<p>

The boy called it a rose.

The prince did not know how to thank the boy, because not only was it the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, it was also the only gift he had ever been given.

"I... I didn't get you anything," stammered the prince.

"Yes you did," said the boy, whose eyes were full of tears. "Whenever I look at the stars, I will think of your laughter. That is the gift you have given me."

"I'm glad," said the prince, whose heart felt like it was about to break. "But it's not enough. I'll come back someday, Darien, and I'll bring you back the most beautiful flower in the universe, something worthy of our friendship. I promise."

"I'll be waiting," said the boy, managing a small smile. "Goodbye Fiore. Until we meet again."

And so it was that the little prince left Earth, a rose clutched to his chest and the boy's smile etched in his heart.


	2. Part Two: The Desert

**When Little Princes Grow Up**

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><p><em>Author's Note: You may ask what this chapter has to do with Sailor Moon, and the answer is really very little. For that I apologize. It originally started out as a short blurb, but I expanded it because I thought it was important to show Fiore's journey, and to let him differentiate himself a bit from the original Little Prince. Plus, I wanted to set up certain events for the next chapter, and I couldn't come up with a more succinct way to do it. But I will say that adapting the dialogue for the adults was pretty fun, so no regrets on my end.<em>

**Part Two: The Desert**

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><p>The little prince's journey through space lasted several long and lonely years. He saw many strange, wonderful, and terrifying things, but nowhere did he find a planet he could live on for very long, or a flower as beautiful as the one that Darien had given him. His beloved rose had long since dried up and crumbled to dust in his hands, but its perfection lived on, held in his memory.<p>

One day, he came across a planet much smaller than Earth, but larger than the hospital he had lived in, and of nearly the same tall, skinny shape. The prince had learned from Darien that small planets such as these were called asteroids. On this asteroid was a desk, and at the desk was a man pouring over the pages of a single large book.

"Who are you?" asked the prince.

"I am a geographer," said the man. "It is my job to draw maps of planets."

The prince peered over the edge of the desk at the geographer's book. The open pages were nearly blank, save for a detailed border drawn and colored in faded ink.

"Well, this planet seems very nice," observed the prince, looking this way and that. "Tell me, are there any oceans, or rivers, or mountains here?"

"I wouldn't know," said the geographer. "Gathering details about a planet is the job of an explorer. Then the explorer tells me what he sees, and I record that information on my map. But there are no explorers here, so I can't do my job."

"That looks like a mountain over there," said the prince, squinting at the horizon. "Maybe you should add it to your map."

The geographer glanced briefly in the direction the prince was looking before turning back to his desk and sharpening a pencil. "Maybe it is a mountain, and maybe it isn't. Only an explorer could tell me for sure."

"It seems to me," said the prince, "that you should become an explorer. At least for a little while."

"Yes, well that is because you are a little boy who doesn't understand the jobs of grownups."

The prince did not know how to respond to this. He was already starting to wish that he had not stopped to talk to the geographer. At last he spoke again (for he had to be certain): "Please, are there any flowers here? I'm looking for the most beautiful flower in the universe."

"How should I know?" said the geographer. "Flowers are ephemeral- temporary. They come and go with the seasons, so they don't belong on maps. Therefore, they are of no matter of consequence to a geographer."

The prince's heart sank.

"Still," continued the geographer, "one can't help hearing rumors. There is a legend about a very rare and beautiful flower that is supposedly without peer. The Kisenian Blossom. It is said that she has enough power to swallow oceans, move mountains, and change the shape of any land she touches. Of all the flowers in the universe, she is the only one with such power, which means she matters a great deal to the field of geography."

"Where can I find her?" the prince asked excitedly.

"I have heard she currently resides on a planet a few nebulae over." He gestured vaguely to the vast expanse of stars behind him. "So much the better for me, if she is far away from here."

"Thank you," said the prince, smiling politely.

"Yes, yes," said the geographer, already picking up his straightedge. "Now leave me be, will you? I am anxious to get back to work. I think I'll add a legend, you know, for when an explorer finally comes and describes this planet to me." And so the little prince left the geographer to his desk and his book.

"Grownups," he thought sadly, "don't understand about flowers."

And he continued his journey, thinking of Darien.

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><p>The next asteroid the prince happened upon was inhabited by a king.<p>

"Welcome, weary traveller," said the king in a booming voice. "Welcome to my kingdom. Please, take a seat."

The prince looked around. This asteroid was very small, and whatever ground there may have been was mostly taken up by the king's throne and his flowing ermine robe.

"Thank you," said the prince, sitting down on the only unoccupied space he could find: on the ground at the king's feet.

The king smiled down genially at him. "Now tell me, what has brought you into my domain?"

The prince thought. "I'm looking for something," he said. "And the last person to give me directions was rather unclear about where I should go. But also I'm..." The prince looked down at his lap. "I wanted someone to talk to, because was feeling lonely."

The king looked at the prince with wonder. "Someone to talk to? How very extraordinary. I shall have to give your request some consideration. I cannot appear too soft, you see, for then everyone will expect me to do whatever they ask. But then again, I too have been desiring companionship for some time now. Perhaps, it is in our mutual interest- yes, I believe it is!" The king fixed the prince with a piercing eye, one he had been practicing for a long time. "We consent to your request."

"You mean, we can be friends?" The prince held his breath.

"Friends?" the king asked, confused. "No, no- a monarch has no need for friends. What I offer is much better. You," said the king magnanimously, "are permitted to be my subject."

"Your... subject?" asked the prince skeptically.

"Yes!" cried the king, his stately air nearly forgotten. "I only have one subject, you see- a grey rat. I hear him at night skittering around, but a king with only one subject is hardly a king at all, you know. It will be wonderful to have two subjects. We will rely on each other- I will depend on you to hear my commands and obey them faithfully. You will depend on me to give reasonable orders and show you mercy if you are unable to carry them out."

"Having a subject doesn't sound better than having a friend," said the prince.

"It is," the king insisted. "Let's give it a chance, you'll see."

"I don't want to."

The king stiffened in his throne. He had never been addressed like this before. "In that case, I _order_ you to be my subject."

The prince shook his head. "I cannot. I'm already bound to someone who is very dear to me. I need to find the Kisenian Blossom to fulfill a promise to him."

"The Kisenian Blossom?" The king's eyes widened. "I have heard of that flower, although I do not know which planet she calls home. To command such a powerful..." he smiled at the prince again. "I would very much like it if you found her and brought her to me. In fact, I order you to do so. Then, I shall have _three_ subjects, you see. It is a great matter of consequence."

The prince considered this. "No, I don't think so. I'm going to go now." And he made preparations to leave.

"Wait!" cried the king. "I make you my ambassador! You will go forth and spread messages of goodwill about me and my kingdom!"

"No thank you," said the prince firmly. And so he left the monarch, who remained perched on his gilded throne, surrounded by the folds of his magnificent robe.

"Grownups," thought the little prince with annoyance, "don't understand about friendship."

And he continued his journey, wishing Darien was there to comfort him.

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><p>The next asteroid the prince happened upon was inhabited by a businessman. This man had a red face and a wrinkled suit. He sat at a handsome desk in front of a very large ledger, in which he was writing so furiously that he did not seem to notice the prince's arrival.<p>

"Add nine, add seven, add eight, carry the two, add three, add four, add seven, carry the one... there, that's done it! Five hundred and one million, nine hundred and twenty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty-five exactly."

"Five hundred and one million what?" asked the prince.

"No time to stop, still so much to do! I must move on to the next quadrant, my work is never done: one and two make three, add four, add eight, add five, add..."

"Five hundred and one million what?" asked the prince again.

The businessman finally raised his head and looked at the prince. "I can't abide interruptions," he said. "The last time I was interrupted was eleven years ago, and it resulted in four mistakes in my addition. Four! I am a very busy man, not some idle dreamer. I have no time for such foolishness. My work is a great matters of consequence!"

The prince was beginning to hate those words, _matter of consequence_. But all the same, he had never let go of a question once he had asked it.

"Five hundred and one million _what_?" asked the prince a third time.

The businessman seemed to realize that this particular interruption was not going to leave him alone until the question was answered. "Why, stars, of course! I must count all the stars in the sky. It is very important that I remain accurate."

"Why?"

"Because they are my property." The businessman's chest swelled a little as he said this. "I own them."

"I don't think you can own the stars," said the prince.

The businessman's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Well, _you_ can't obviously, because they are mine," he said. "You can own anything, if you're the first to come up with the idea."

"Mmn," said the prince, who had more pressing questions on his mind. "Tell me, do you know anything about the Kisenian Blossom?"

"I do not," said the businessman. He was already back to scribbling numbers in his ledger. "What's it worth?"

The prince gave this question some thought. "To me," he said, "she is worth all the sunsets in the universe."

The businessman stopped counting long enough to look at the prince again. "A pittance," he remarked carelessly. "The exchange rate between sunsets and stars is terrible in this market. Still, perhaps there is no harm in adding it to my coffers. If you find it," he said to the prince, "and bring it to me, I may be willing to part with a single star for it. I strongly urge you to consider. I'm feeling rather generous today, and that will probably be the best offer you'll get from a buyer in _this_ galaxy."

The prince felt his face grow hot. "N-never!" he sputtered. He couldn't even begin to understand this man's idea of value, of worth, of what was _most important_... it was almost more than he could bear. Without another word, he left the asteroid with the desk and the ledger, and the businessman who did not spare him another glance.

"Grownups," thought the prince savagely, "don't understand about stars OR sunsets."

And he continued his journey, his heart aching like never before for his friend Darien.


	3. Part Three: The Baobab

**When Little Princes Grow Up**

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><p><em>Children, watch out for baobabs!<em>**  
><strong>

**Part Three: The Baobab  
><strong>

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><p>And so it was that the little prince (who, it must be said, was not so little anymore) finally found what he was looking for. She was waiting for him on an unassuming little rock amidst the ruins of a shattered and lifeless galaxy, and as he approached, it was she who spoke first.<p>

"Have you come all this way just to see me?" asked the flower. "It's been a long time since any living thing has dared to venture so close to my home. But I'm glad, so glad you've come at last- it was really getting quite lonely." She threw him a coquettish smile.

The prince looked at her curiously. He had to kneel down in order to better see her dainty features. "I have come for you. But you're so small. Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Why should I be afraid?" she asked, rearranging her petals. "I have ways of defending myself. For instance..." but there she trailed off. It was obvious that she didn't have any sort of thorns or poisonous berries with which to guard herself. She coughed a few times to cover up this oversight.

"I was born at the same time this galaxy died," she told him, changing the subject. "I was the only one to witness the beauty of its destruction, therefore everything in it- the debris, the silence, even the reddish hue of the sun- belongs to me."

Perhaps she was not quite as beautiful as the rose, but she was still very lovely. And so rare and fragile, despite her vanity. The prince was overcome by the feeling of wanting to protect her, shelter her, save her from this lonely existence.

And so Fiore reached down and plucked the Kisenian Blossom.

It was then that she told him of her true powers. "By myself, I am next to nothing," she said. "But with you, I can become strong. I can cover an entire planet with my blooms and absorb its life force. Take me with you, and I can help you obtain anything your heart desires."

The prince recalled all of the hardships he had endured on his travels. He thought of the foolish grownups, the aching loneliness, and of Darien. Darien, who was still on Earth, still suffering at the mercy of a world that didn't understand him, still waiting for a friend to return and keep his promise...

And so the prince traveled back the same way he had come, escorting the flower protectively in hands. They flew past galaxies and planets, suns and moons, until they passes right by the asteroid where the businessman lived, absorbed in counting stars.

"Please, will you show me your power?" the prince asked her. "Will you show _him_, so that he knows what true matters of consequence are?"

"Watch," said the flower, releasing a single seed from the folds of her petals. Fiore followed it with his eyes until it landed lightly on the surface of the asteroid and disappeared into the soil.

The effect was, perhaps, a bit surprising, but at the same time exactly what the prince had been hoping for. In no time at all, the seed had sprouted and started to grow. It unfurled like a sunrise, expanding in every direction at once, until it was such a size that its roots cracked the foundation and coiled around the sorry remains of earth like some great tentacled beast. There was no longer an asteroid, no longer a place to live or even visit. With that single seed, Kisenian had transformed the tiny planet into a sprawling organic mass, surrounded by nothing but a few crumbling remnants of rock.

There was no sign at all of the desk, or the ledger, or the businessman who had been of no use to the stars he had claimed to own.

"That was... perfect," said the prince, his heart hammering with the thrill of what he had just witnessed.

"Thank you," breathed the flower, "although I'm afraid the effort has tired me greatly. Please, will you find me some water?"

The prince obliged, melting some ice from a nearby planet so she could drink.

The flower smiled sweetly, and they continued their journey.

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><p>They came next to the asteroid where the king sat, the absolute ruler of his tiny kingdom.<p>

"You have found her!" he cried out joyfully when he saw them, reaching out a hand to take the flower from the prince's grasp.

"Save me!" she cried to Fiore, recoiling from the king's touch. "I am not yet strong enough!"

The prince acted quickly, and in the only manner he knew how. The king's fall was broken by the folds of his voluminous robes, but a heart soon ceased to beat in that old and tired breast. Now, the only thing absolute in the monarch's kingdom was silence, save for a faint, almost imperceptible sound that was easy to imagine as the sobbing of a single grey rat.

When it was over, the prince turned his attention to the flower. "Are you all right?" he asked, worrying that she might have been hurt.

"I think so," said the flower. "Although I'm afraid the fight has left my petals in disarray." She busied herself by rearranging them in an overly meticulous way. "Do I look all right to you?"

The prince assured her that she did, and that she was beautiful. For an instant, he was even able to forget about Darien's rose.

The flower smiled knowingly, and they continued their journey.

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><p>Before long, they had come to the home of the geographer. By now, the prince and the flower had been journeying for a very long time. They were both quite weary from their travels, and it <em>was<em> a very nice asteroid, after all. So together they disposed of the geographer, and claimed the planet as their own.

"How are you feeling now?" asked the prince, still flushed from their victory.

"Fine, except for this dreadful cold," she said, shivering a little to emphasize her point. "Please, will you hold me close so I don't catch my death?"

The prince obliged, fixing her securely to the lapel just over his heart.

The flower smiled triumphantly, and together they set out to explore their new home.

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><p>The prince took great care to make note of everything he learned about the asteroid. There were no oceans or rivers or mountains, of course, but he did discover three small volcanoes (two active, one extinct), and sparse patches of scraggly wildflowers. The asteroid itself was hollow, which was indeed rather strange, but that only made it easier to break it out of its orbit and steer it in the direction of Earth. After that, it didn't take long for the prince and the flower to settle into a comfortable routine.<p>

Every morning, the prince woke up, had breakfast, did his chores, and navigated the asteroid through the stars, ever closer to their goal. He always stopped to watch the sunset in whatever galaxy they happened to be passing through, and Kisenian did her part to regale him with stories of all the planets she had been to on her travels. These stories always fascinated the prince, for she had seen many more corners of the universe than he had.

All the same, he couldn't help but notice the flower's delight in destruction, and her indifferent attitude towards other living things. This was particularly apparent when she answered his questions about what would happen when they arrived on Earth. Still, she assured him time and again that Darien would be spared, and so he allowed her her various conceits and frivolities, and tended to her needs dutifully.

The one thing he would not yield to her, however, were the sprouts.

The prince had learned early on in their partnership that when Kisenian was in good health and high spirits, her petals would drop countless little seeds, which took to the soil and sprouted easily, even when she did nothing to aid their growth. There were so many, in fact, that a good portion of his day was consumed with pulling up each and every one of the tender green shoots. Sometimes she would protest at this, but he was always firm.

"Now, now," he would say, scolding her gently. "We mustn't let them grow out of hand just yet."

And invariably, she would cough politely and agree that they should wait until the time was right, and he would go back to pulling up the little plants. But although Fiore managed to remove every new shoot from the soil, he was unaware of the seeds she had planted in his heart, and did not feel them when they started to take root.

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><p><em>Author's Note: Well, there you go, the origin of the "minor planet" Fiore and Kisenian brought with them. Join us next time, when I finally stop writing backstory and get around to adapting the main action of the movie. Hooray!<em>


	4. Part Four: The Snake

**When Little Princes Grow Up**

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><p><em>Author's Note: This chapter was really difficult to write, and actually I've been dreading how it would turn out ever since I began the fic. Sorry if it feels rushed, sorry if it's confusing, sorry for practically ignoring the other senshi, sorry if some characters come across as too sympathetic and others come off as not sympathetic enough, etc, etc. Not sorry for the Little Prince character I used to describe SerenaSailor Moon (snakes are often recognized as having the power to heal as well as harm, you know). _

_Anyway, there's just this chapter and a little bit of wrap-up left, so if you've made it this far, thanks for reading!_

**Part Four: The Snake**

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><p>And so it was that the prince piloted the asteroid back to Earth, shoots sprouting in his heart and the whispered promises of the Kisenian Blossom in his ear.<p>

Once they arrived, it did not take the prince long to find Darien's energy signature. It was as unique as his friend's face amidst a sea of strangers. Kisenian had wanted to come down to the surface with him, but Fiore was adamant that he go alone. She chided him then, for how long he took to get ready, but again he paid her no mind. He was no longer a child, crouched shivering and alone in the rain. He wanted to show Darien he had become every bit of the prince his friend deserved. When he was satisfied at last, he conjured up a flourish of rose petals and floated down to the boy's location, as soft and light as the seed of a dandelion.

The prince stared at his friend. For Darien was no longer a boy, but a man, standing straight and tall in a field of brilliantly blooming flowers, and it was the sight of his dear friend after so many years apart that made the flowers resplendent, instead of the other way around. And around his arm-

Fiore felt his eyes widen in alarm at the sight of the creature. For entwined around his friend's arm were loops of coiled gold, shimmering with the color of moonlight: a small yet deadly snake.

"H-hello," said the prince.

"Hello," said the snake.

"Who are you?" asked Darien.

The prince didn't understand. His head was immediately filled with questions: _how long has it been, what are you doing with this creature, is this all some sort of game? _So he spoke to Darien, of his long and lonely journey, of his joy at finally returning, of friendship and fondness and flowers. But try as he might, the prince's warm words were unable to rekindle the fire of recognition in Darien's deep blue eyes.

Fiore's friend had forgotten him.

And the snake...

The snake was encircling him, wrapping itself tighter around Darien's arms and waist, as if the creature was saying _he is mine, all mine, and I won't let you take him away._

Confusion, sadness, even anger overtook the prince. He lost track of what he was doing until he found himself back on the asteroid, seeking comfort in the calming words of his flower. He had been shaken, but Kisenian was firm. Now was not the time for sorrow. Rather, it was the time for action- they would start setting their plan into motion, and there would still be time, plenty of time, to remind Darien how much he meant the prince.

And so Fiore allowed her to release a handful of seeds in the direction of Earth, envoys that would start preparing the surface for her arrival. And once they were strong enough, she told him, there would be no snakes left on this planet worth worrying about.

* * *

><p>But they had underestimated the golden snake. The prince and the flower watched as she and her accomplices destroyed Kisenian's children one by one, until Kisenian insisted she accompany him to the surface so they could deal with this new threat together.<p>

All five snakes put up a fight, but by acting quickly Fiore was able to immobilize four of them, leaving the golden one for last.

"I don't understand how you've been able to give us so much trouble," the prince said, looking her up and down. "You're so very small."

"And yet some say I am more powerful than a king," said the snake.

The prince smiled. "You're not so powerful," he told her. "You wouldn't have been able to make such a difficult journey through space. You wouldn't have been able to come back with such a beautiful gift."

"I can take you farther than even the fastest ship," said the snake. "And though I have but one gift to give, I would very much like to share it with you, if you'll let me."

And it was in that instant Fiore felt a flash of her power, the venom coursing through her slender body just beneath those golden scales. He repressed a shudder and tensed himself to attack. But just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, he felt something slice across his path.

A red rose.

_Darien._

Darien had thrown the rose as a weapon against him. He was protecting _her_.

Fiore saw it now, what he had been too blind to see earlier. It wasn't a matter of Darien simply forgetting him. The snake had wound her golden coils in a band around Darien's heart, and that terrible venom was poisoning his friend against him, against their beautiful friendship. The prince was hurt, betrayed, angry, and yet through the haze of his own emotion, he felt Kisenian rejoice, and lend him some of her strength.

He lashed out at the snake, intending to rip, to tear, to slice her to pieces with the daggers lodged deep in his own heart. But even as he felt his nails pierce soft, delicate flesh, he recoiled in shock and horror.

Darien had launched himself between the prince and the snake, and it was he whom Fiore had skewered through the heart.

The dark-haired man laid where he fell, a crimson stain blossoming on his jacket like a rose in full splendor. The snake curled around his neck possessively, holding him so tightly it seemed she meant to squeeze any life remaining out of his unmoving form. But Fiore's anger had given way to clarity. A creature such as this could never understand. Once you tamed something, you were responsible for it forever. And so the prince gathered the boy in his arms, promising to undo the terrible damage that had been done, and returned to his asteroid, the cries of the snake (_why was she crying?_) still ringing in his ears.

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><p>Darien's injuries were severe, but mendable. While he recovered in a crystalline chamber of Fiore's own creation, Kisenian soothed away the prince's remaining doubts and uncertainties, so that when Darien opened his eyes, the prince would be able to confront his friend with a renewed sense of conviction.<p>

"Where am I?"

"Someplace safe, Darien."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I am your friend."

"I... I thought you were a dream," the boy confessed. "A dream I made up to ease the pain of my childhood loneliness."

"Nonsense. Could a dream have done-" Fiore's hand caressed the crystalline wall of the rejuvenation chamber, but his eyes could not help but wander to the dark stains on Darien's jacket. "Could a dream remember the color of your eyes when you smile? Could a dream return to you in order to keep a promise? Everything will be all right now, Darien. You'll see."

But his friend was unmoved. "This has to stop, Fiore. The Earth is my home, and I have sworn to defend it. I cannot stand by and watch while you and Kisenian plot to destroy it."

"You sound just like the grownups," the prince said accusingly. "All they do is talk about things that don't matter. There's nothing more important to me than your life, your happiness."

"Things are different now, Fiore. I have a new family, new friends, who will do everything in their power to protect our planet from those who threaten it."

"They're vipers," spat the prince, remembering the types of snakes the boy had told him about so long ago in the hospital. "Pythons. They're trying to take you away from me, Darien. I want... I want-"

But words were no longer enough to express what the prince wanted. The only thing that could possibly show Darien how much he cared now was action.

Once again, he sought refuge in the words of his flower, and Kisenian, ever so wise, knew what had to be done. She had encountered this type of snake before, she told him. She knew of their power, and how best to exterminate them. So this time, when she requested that her shoots stay planted in the ground, he relented. The time was right. The time to put their grand plan into action was finally at hand, and when the snakes tried once again to take Darien away, they would be ready for them.

And Darien would finally have his flowers.

* * *

><p>What followed next came to pass just as Kisenian had planned. Before long, the asteroid had been consumed with flowering blooms inside and out. The snakes had come at last, and were falling one by one to the most dedicated of Kisenian's children, until only the golden snake remained once again. Fiore offered his ultimatum: surrender her power and her sway over Darien's heart, and he would release her friends.<p>

But the snake was still crafty, it seemed. She would surrender, she told him, but the look in her eyes at that moment filled Fiore with such strange thoughts, strange emotions, that he felt himself moved by a feeling very much like pity. _Why...?_

Something tightened in his chest, and he knew Kisenian was there, feeding him, lending him strength so he could act. He felt her presence grow and engulf him, until he didn't know where he ended and she began. Her essence twisted around his like vines around a tree trunk, forming a shell, a guard, a protective barrier around his fragile and conflicted heart.

The prince... the flower... whoever it was grabbed the wriggling creature, anger fueling the iron grip keeping her pinned so that Kisenian's children could feast on her energy. The other snakes cried out to him (_a trick, just another trick_) and he prepared once again to put an end to the golden snake's miserable existence.

But then...

Darien was there. And this time, the rose he had thrown was embedded deep into Fiore's chest.

"Darien, don't you... don't you want...?" When he was younger, the prince had never been able to let go of a question once he had asked it. But now, standing here in front of Darien, looking into those deep blue eyes, he realized that he did not always wish to hear the answers to his questions, especially if those answers had the possibility of breaking his heart.

But Kisenian was still there, keeping his heart tightly wrapped in her roots, trying to stem the tide of emotion threatening to tear it apart, and still whispering in his ear about the snake, that treacherous creature. _This is her fault, all her fault! She can't possibly understand how you feel!_

But there was another voice now, fighting to be heard over Kisenian's hiss. _She knows, of course she does, you can see it on her face, and in the feeling behind her eyes..._The asteroid was falling, Kisenian would still take the planet, even if Fiore himself broke apart under the strain, but the snake was there, the snake was trying to stop it, and she was looking at him with such feeling, even as she caused him this terrible pain... he made another grab for her and looked her in the eyes, those eyes that were somehow the same color as Darien's...

"I can send you back to where you belong," said the snake. "You are still innocent and pure, and you come from a star."

"Why," he asked, his heart feeling like it was being ripped in two. "Why must you always speak in riddles?"

"I solve them all."

She touched his wrist. And suddenly he had a window into her memories, of the first time she met Darien. A glimpse of a room at sunset, golden curls, and the familiar petals of the most beautiful flower he had ever known.

_The rose... the snake... it had been her gift all along?_

He saw now that the snake was not a snake, but a girl, and that she loved Darien with all her heart, and Darien loved her just as much. He felt his own heart swell with more emotions than he knew how to name, accompanied by a slight pang of sadness. _One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed..._

"You... you have good poison?" he asked her, feeling his body start to tremble. "I will not suffer long?"

She nodded. His heart was beating faster, threatening to collapse in on itself as Kisenian melted away, her roots no longer there to support it. Somehow, he was not sorry to see her go.

The snake moved quickly, almost too quickly for the eye to see. There was a flash of gold and a burst of silver stardust that flooded his vision.

The prince suddenly felt very hot... or was it very cold? Whatever had been in the snake's bite had filled his veins, the stardust spreading through his chest and penetrating his heart. He felt himself falling and smiled, thinking of the rose, and the girl, and the sparkling blue of Darien's eyes.

The prince didn't leave anything behind. By the time his knees would have hit the ground, he didn't even have a body.


	5. Epilogue: The Well

**When Little Princes Grow Up**

**Epilogue: The Well**

* * *

><p>He felt... <em>warm.<em>

The little prince opened his eyes after what felt like a long and restful sleep. He did not know how much time had passed since the snake bit him, but he saw the small cluster of people on the bare and desiccated ruins of the asteroid, and knew that Darien was there, and that his dear friend's heart was breaking.

The girl who was both snake and savior, warrior and princess lay lifeless in Darien's arms, and Fiore felt a deep and overwhelming sadness at the thought of losing her. He marveled then, how strange and wonderful it was that the one thing he had searched the entire universe to find had been a part of her all along, burning brightly in her pure and unassuming heart.

A warmth unlike any he had ever felt before welled up in his chest, and from that feeling bloomed a flower he knew could save her. He held the flower out to Darien. Their eyes met, and the little prince nodded to his friend, and his friend nodded back, understanding passing between them of the agreement they had come to so very long ago.

_'The most beautiful things in life are those which are invisible to the eye._'

And Darien leaned down and pressed his lips against the feather-soft petals of the flower, transferring its life-giving powers to the lips of the dying princess. As she opened her eyes, Fiore smiled, content at last to give himself over to the infinite expanse of the universe. He was no longer a prince. He was a seed, a star, a dream half-formed by a dreamer in the process of waking, the distant sound of a tinkling bell. Darien was happy, and really, that was all that had ever mattered.

Somewhere, in the dark vastness of space, a single flower bloomed.

_~Fin._


End file.
